Inflammation and PD
Cytokines are a family of chemicals produced by the immune system. There are a dozen or so. Some turn the flame of inflammation higher and some turn it down. As the paper noted below shows, one pro-inflammatory cytokine is particularly suspect. Called TNF<alpha> it is a problem in many illnesses with PD being one. Cytokines are what make your symptoms worse when you are sick, but they are also at work when you seem OK. One school of thought says that this is a primary cause of PD.
1. Psychosomatics. 2010 Nov;51(6):474-9. The role of inflammatory cytokines in cognition and other non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Menza M, Dobkin RD, Marin H, Mark MH, Gara M, Bienfait K, Dicke A, Kusnekov A. Psychiatry & Neurology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, D207A, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. menza@umdnj.edu BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) affects patients' lives with more than just physical impairment. Many of the non-motor aspects of PD, such as cognitive impairment, depression, and sleep disturbances, are common and are associated with a variety of poor outcomes. However, at present, the pathophysiology and clinical management of these symptoms are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to determine the associations between various illness-associated cytokines, cortisol, and the non-motor symptoms of PD. METHOD: The authors examined a panel of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α) and cortisol in a cohort of 52 PD patients with depression. RESULTS: There were a number of significant correlations between the non-motor symptoms and TNF-α. Specifically, the authors found that TNF-α (but not IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, or cortisol) was significantly correlated with measures of cognition, depression, and disability. In regression analyses accounting for all variables, TNF-α was consistently significant in explaining variance in cognition, depression, sleep, and disability. CONCLUSION: These data are consistent with a growing body of literature that implicates inflammatory cytokines in neural and behavioral processes and further suggests that TNF-α may be involved in the production and/or maintenance of non-motor symptoms in PD. PMCID: PMC2987579 [Available on 2011/11/1] PMID: 21051678 [PubMed - in process] |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:46 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
vBulletin Optimisation provided by
vB Optimise v2.7.1 (Lite) -
vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.